Major FAC renewal Hold-ups...?

[daman]

Can that not happen now?

I may be in a position to upgrade my .308 soon.

Can't the rfd email their purchase of my old rifle and my purchase of the new one simultaneously, while I do the same? And the paperwork gets updated afterwards?

My experiences so far would indicate it should be possible, as long as all parties are properly notified.

- daman

[bradaz11]

no, because your ticket states on it that selling a rifle does not give you grounds to then rebuy

"you are reminded that the disposal of a firearm does not authorise a replacement to be obtained unless your certificate has been varied for this purpose"

[Triple2]

Who do we complain to?

This service just isn't good enough and we're paying for it.

Chief constable and/or Police Crime Commissioner. Almost certainly p!$$ing in the wind until after April though and the new budgets are drawn out/first fee price hike has happened.

If I were a cynical man, I'd suggest that things are intentionally being held up as a way to prove that more money is needed to be able to cope with demand, therefore raising the prices under some kind of "transparent" pricing increase statistics.

Remove the staff that know what they're doing, give the job to those who haven't got a clue. that should add some time to each certificate, and time is money, because someones got to pay those wages. Whilst we're at it, we'll use people who are already on payroll, so we can pocket the cash that we would be paying to those full time guys that the current amount of money is earmarked for, and when it comes time for the budget, we'll explain that it's not possible with the amount we get at the minute.

Does that sound about right to anyone?

Well, that tactic seems to have worked in Northern Ireland.

Just over 4 years ago I applied for my first rimfire, i'm the space of 7 days, the application had been approved and FAC delivered.

Last year a variation to my FAC took 5 months to go through.

Fees have gone up this earlier this year, so I'll be interesting to see if wait times do actually come down.

[safetyfirst]

One for one variations must surely be a good low hanging fruit to sort out when considering efficiencies. It's just ludicrous.

[Blackstuff]

Can that not happen now?

I may be in a position to upgrade my .308 soon.

Can't the rfd email their purchase of my old rifle and my purchase of the new one simultaneously, while I do the same? And the paperwork gets updated afterwards?

My experiences so far would indicate it should be possible, as long as all parties are properly notified.

- daman

Unless you have a .308 rifle slot in Section 1(ii) - (Firearms authorised to be purchased or acquired) on your FAC, the RFD would be breaking the law giving you the new gun, even if you were trading in/selling/giving away your current .308 at the same time.

[Polchraine]

I wonder if all the police at nancy ball matches are paid for by the two clubs involved?

Yes and no ...

Any police presence that is inside the ground is (normally) charged to the clubs, anything outside the ground on the surrounding streets, on trains or in pubs is from the main police budget. This is the same for most other sports, football, rugby, cricket, golf. At some events such as music festivals, even the inside event policing and external traffic management may be provided free. The cost to the Met police extends to several million a year and through out the country tens of millions.

Yes, we are the only sport or entertainment activity that has to pay for police activities even though very little of our hobby ever requires their presence.

[daman]

no, because your ticket states on it that selling a rifle does not give you grounds to then rebuy

"you are reminded that the disposal of a firearm does not authorise a replacement to be obtained unless your certificate has been varied for this purpose"

I don't have those words on my ticket. Just that I need to notify the police within seven days of any sale or transfer. However I understand that if it's in any way grey an RFD will have to err on the side of caution.

Seems a bit daft though, would be much simpler if one could just "trade in" and upgrade in one transaction.

[Laverda981]

GMP have gone from being one of the quickest to the slowest. My licence recently took 18 weeks to turn around - for a variation! I was left unable to pick up a rifle I'd had RFD'd (the reason for the variation) or buy any ammo as I'd assumed they'd take around a week as used to be the case.
They are currently performing thorough background checks on all licences that pass through because they had an FEO (now moved on) who was handing out licences to fellow members of the funny handshake brigade without checks...
They don't tell you this though, they say it's new rules from the home office & all forces are the same, which is bullsh*t...

[Rockhopper]

Daman, its not a grey area, its just not very well explained on your certificate (which caught me out as well).

You have authority to posses a certain caliber of rifle. You buy such a rifle and write its details on your ticket. You send the form off to the Police as does whoever sold the rifle. You now have authority to posses only that particular rifle. If you want another rifle you either have to apply for a variation to add an additional rifle onto your licence (which costs £20) or sell your existing rifle then apply for a one for one variation (which is free). Once your licence comes back then you can go and buy your new rifle.

Oh and if you sell a rifle and don't want another one then if you do nothing with your ticket you loose the slot. If you want to keep the slot for use at a later date then most forces seem to require you to apply for a one for one within seven days of selling the rifle.

[HH1]

Nothing but praise for my Constabulary..... put in a variation in December (for a Sig 522 Swat) and it took two weeks and arrived on the 31 Dec. which means they processed it during the Christmas break. The next variation in January (for my SGC 9mm) took 18 days... happy enough with that